Winds of Change

The winds of change are blowing at the Wade home. A major event has occurred. I have finally moved on from Discover Card. It is official. Discover was such a great company to work for, but lets face it...I was miserable the last year! Eight years was as long as I could stand it. Call it my bad attitude or the bad economy, either way, it was bad! It was time for a change. Today I started my new position with Jet Blue Airlines. I wasn't supposed to start until the end of Feb, but some needs came up and a group of us started early. I will be doing airline reservations from home. (Once I finish my 4 weeks training). I am excited for the flight benefits, health benefits, and of course working from home! Plus...one of Jet Blue's core values is FUN! I figured you can't go wrong working for a company who has FUN in it's mission statement. Even if it is half the pay as my last job. They say money doesn't make you happy anyway, right? I will be working graveyard shifts, so keep me in your prayers. This ought to be good. I am NOT a night person (working the last 8 years at Discover early mornings), so my goal is to not fall asleep and get fired my first week. Another goal: to not gain 20 lbs the first month, eating candy all night long. Wish me luck! All I know is that Change is Good!

Sydney is 12!

I can't believe my little, tiny Sydney is 12 years old today! She just really seems too little to be turning 12! She may be tiny, but she is BIG in heart! Sydney is my most sensitive, sweet, helpful, emotional, and caring child. She is always the first to help without asking, and is very much a pleaser. She is so FUN to be around, and her smile is absolutely contagious! Sydney is very much like her mama and gets a little grouchy when not fed often enough. She is like her Dad in the fact that she LOVES to tease. She especially loves to scare her Dad and get him back! Today for her Birthday we doing our usual 12th birthday routine....going to the temple for baptisms (Sydney is sooo excited for this!), going to get her ears pierced(let's hope this goes better than Kylies 12th!), going to dinner (Sydney's favorite Cafe Rio), and then going home for cake and ice cream. She is so excited to go into Young Women's and is especially excited to get to go to girls camp with Kylie this summer. She hated staying behind the last 2 years while Kylie went. We are so lucky to have Sydney in our family. She is always doing nice things for her sister and brother and even does the dishes once in a while without asking! What more can you ask from a 12 year old! We LOVE you to bits and pieces Sydney! Happy Happy Birthday! p.s Check out the CUTE slide show Kylie put together for Sydney. It's at www.kylieskoolspot.blogspot.com

Good morning Syd...with breakfast in bed!



OUCH! That hurt a little!


CUTE, CUTE flower earrings!


YUMMY Cafe Rio!


YUMMY chocolate cake with strawberry filling!



Make a wish!


Hurry and melt snow!



Mt. Timpanogos Temple


Hope you had a good day sweetheart!

A Christmas Post FINALLY!

I have GOT to finish this Christmas post. It has been nagging at me for weeks! A whole slew of events as to why it is soo late! I won't bore you with all the details, but trust me....they are really GOOD excuses!
Whew! I finally got my memory card out of the printer. The printer, however, did not survive. Oh well...it was better than losing the pictures! We had a GREAT Christmas! A really, really great one! Santa made it, and the kids were so excited about all their presents. I got a new camera...so all is well in the Wade home. I LOVE it! Brian also totally spoiled me with a multi-function DVD recorder. He spent HOURS and HOURS getting all our cam-recorder cassettes, little mini DVD disks, and all our home videos from the time of our wedding up to now (15 years of home video)all burned to a DVD's that we can just watch on any DVD player. I opened the case and just started crying. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Santa also broke down and finally got the kids a trampoline. The kids are hoping the snow goes away soon so we can set it up before May! After a great, relaxing day...we got up the next morning and headed to Washington. A few words can describe our trip. FUN! EXHAUSTING! LOUD! HAPPY! CHAOTIC! LOTS OF LAUGHING! CRAZY! We really had a great time. We have so much fun when we all get together. Not that it isn't totally insane to spend 7 days with 19 children and 12 adults basically all in the same house, because trust me, IT IS! But we make so many memories each time we go, and the kids have the time of their lives! Mom and Dad, Becky and Mike, and Matt and Courtney are such fabulous hosts...and they take all the craziness in stride. Thanks for letting us come and hang with you! A 2 day trip to the lodge was one of the highlights. We got some snow and the kids had a blast sledding. A few minor injuries...but no trips to the hospital so that was good! It is too hard to write about the whole trip....so here are some pictures to enjoy.


Christmas morning


We are having soo much fun watching all our home videos!



Another hunting game...sooo fun??


The Chinese Throwing Star in Action! What a shot!



Watch out neighbors! Tyson has a bb gun!



The girls sporting some new winter gear!


Christmas Crafts were a BIG hit! Thanks Heather!


There is sooo much to say about the Lodge we stayed at for 2 nights. It is just a dream come true for the kids. Lots and lots of space to run around, great sledding hills, fuzzball, ping pong, pool tables, and lots of junk food. Here are a few pictures from the lodge.

Brian and Matt playing pool


This just shows how much FUN the kids were having! My cute neices Avery & Aftyn.


Tyson & Wes in a game of fuzzball, Grandma & Zoe playing ping pong


There was games, games and more games!



Junk food even for the babies! YUM!


Mohwaks, food, food and more food!


I want a kitchen this big! It was awesome!


Sledding


sledding


And more sledding!


One night we let the kids sleep all together out in the main room. I don't know how much sleeping actually happened, but it sure was FUN!



There was lots of "monkeying" around!
Adalynn and Abby


Courtney cleaning up our oreo incident (you had to be there!)


Jackson helping us make "who hash" YUMMY!


How many Andersen girls does it take to crush oreos?


Monday night FHE game. How well do we know Grandma and Grandpa quiz. It was hard. Grandma and Grandpa didn't know the answer to some of the questions. We think Becky made them up!



Somebody found these two weirdo's on the street! They walked around like that for an hour!


Kylie and "chubby" aka: William. I think he ate one too many oreo balls! SOOO CUTE!


Good bye Ensign Ranch until next year. You were good to us!

Finally!

Finally the kids are out for Christmas break! I thought it would never happen. It seems like every other school got out on Friday, but our poor kids had to go through Tuesday! They didn't mind as they were just playing the last 2 days, but I'd rather they were playing with me! I'm selfish that way. I've had a terrible head cold since Saturday, the first one I have had in several years. I have simply GOT to get better by this Saturday since we are staying with Jackson and his ANC is getting pretty low from his chemo. I am downing the vitamin C like nobody's business! Keep your fingers crossed for me! So today we slept in, and it was glorious. Kylie and Brian are on their way to the temple, and I think some baking for the rest of us is in order!
I haven't posted in a while because I still don't have a camera. A post without pictures just isn't the same. I'll tell you, Santa had better bring me a camera in a few days or he will be sleeping outside in the snow! I have felt completely lost without a camera the last couple of months. You might as well take my right arm too! I feel like I have missed so much. Thank heavens I have had my Mother in Law's camera for major events. Don't disappoint me Santa! I really hope to be posting again in a few days, with lots of pictures to share!
It is snowing right now and it makes Christmas break seem more exciting. The kids are loving every minute of it! It is supposed to clear out by the time we leave to Washington, so that's all I care about! Clear roads! We finally got around to watching the First Presidency Christmas devotional Monday night, and we all loved when President Monson instructed us to not only think about what we are going to spend our money on this Christmas, but how are we going to spend our time? I have spent the last day calling all the homeless shelters and other places trying to find a place for us to volunteer. EVERYTHING is full through the holidays! Crazy! I finally found a place for us to serve, after a million phone calls and 2 million transfers all over the place.(At least it felt that way!) Bright and early tomorrow morning we are headed down to Welfare Square for some good old service to be rendered. We can't wait. I have no idea what we will be doing, but I am sure it will be great for the kids. (Brian and I too!) Hope you are all enjoying your break so far! This is such a great season to reflect on our blessings, and they sure are many. Merry Christmas!

WHAT!! My baby is 9!

Man it is really time for a catch up post! I am on a little leave of absence from work right now, but have never felt busier! How does that happen? Although there are about 10 things I need to post about...only one thing matters right now. Yesterday Tyson turned 9! I can't believe my baby is 9 years old! I hate that he is growing up, although he gets more and more fun each year. Tyson is such a character in our family. The boy NEVER holds still. He is jumping, flipping, doing handstands, and moving ALL day long. He is exhausting to watch! It is no wonder I can't get any weight on this boy. He must burn 5,000 calories an hour! Tyson loves basketball, gymnastics, scouts, playing the wii, playing with his friends, singing all the time, and fishing/camping with his Dad. He has decided he likes school this year, although still isn't loving reading like the girls do. He loves math and is quite a whiz at it too. I am so grateful for this little boy in our family. He is almost always happy and is a great helper to me. He is a mamas boy all the way, and I get the privilege of "snuggling" him every night at bed time. That is when he likes to talk my ear off. He is good at stalling bed time! Brian and Tyson spend many hours watching "monster jam", and all kinds of hunting shows, and just talking boy talk. Tyson is so lucky to have a Dad that LOVES being with him every minute that he can. He gets pretty sick of us girls! We had a small party with a few friends and cousins yesterday after school. They started out sledding for an hour or so, then came home for hot chocolate and pizza. Our first big snow storm came just at the right time. Tyson loves sledding! Next they opened presents and then had cake and ice cream. Tyson has such great friends and cousins, and they were so much fun to have all together! After the party was over, we watched Night at the Museum 2, and had popcorn, Tyson's favorite snack.

Tyson REFUSED to wear a hat. Whatever dude!


They were totally bugged I made them stop and pose for a picture!


An awesome nerf sword from Carter! Thank heavens it is nerf!


A sweet pocket knife from Davin! YIKES!


A super fun remote control truck from Wes, Brax, and Dex! He LOVES it!


A Wii accessory kit from G& G Wade. FUN!



His Favorite gift from Mom and Dad. A RIPSTICK with light up wheels! Suhwheet!


As you can tell, Tyson scored once again! It was a great day! Now that sledding is over, the snow needs to melt so he can ride his ripstick! I think waiting until April is going to be torture! Happy Birthday Buddy! We love you to pieces!

Snow and a sleepover!

I swear Utah is bi-polar! It can't decide what season it wants to be. We had 70's, then snow a few weeks ago, then high 60's again all this week, and snow today! The kids always have a blast playing in the first good snowfall. I can't tell you how much we got today because it is still snowing like crazy! Tyson and Sydney had a couple friends over and built a snow "ramp" off the front porch steps. Yikes! They have also fine tuned their plan to become rich shoveling all the neighbors driveways this winter. If you live close by, consider yourself warned! Meanwhile Kylie is upstairs sleeping the afternoon away. She had 5 friends over for a sleepover last night and bed time ended up around 4:30a.m.! They were so loud it was unbelievable, but they were having such a great time that I couldn't bear to tell them to quiet down! I was thoroughly entertained just listening to them! They played wii, dance dance revolution, painted nails, ate pizza, watched a scary movie, and other activities that had them laughing so loud I was waiting for cops to show up and give us a ticket for disturbing the peace or whatever. I have no idea what they were doing around 2 am but it sounded like a herd of elephants upstairs. I was waiting for my ceiling fan to come down on me any minute! I am so mad I didn't get pictures of them, because they ratted their hair to high heaven and played rock band like pro's. It was quite the sight! Kylie has such a great group of friends, we love when they come over! Even if it means a sleepless night for all!

4 excited kids! Think the excitement will last 6 more months? (Tyson in front)



Tyson and Carter hard at work!

Pinewood Derby//Halloween 2009

Tyson had his first ever pinewood derby the end of October. He and Brian had a great time making his car. Tyson was so excited when it was finally pinewood derby night, that as you can imagine, he was once again bouncing off the walls. Man, it seems like I say that a lot about my boy! He had a great time and took 3rd place out of 18 boys. Not bad for a rookie! Brian has already figured out what he needs to do to lock in first place next year. Good grief! Isn't this just for fun?

Brian and Tyson with their finished product! Looks great guys!


Tyson after one of his wins. Look at that grin!


Tyson and Carter. Phew! They were still best buds after the race!


Any guesses on how Tyson felt about the results?


What a great bunch of goofy cub scouts!




We had a great Halloween, and HOORAY the weather cooperated for us. It was a beautiful night. Kylie was a pregnant housewife, and decided that having a huge belly in front of you isn't much fun. She was so glad to take out that pillow at the end of the day! She hated it so much that when it came time for her to go to a friends Halloween party she changed her costume completely and became a pink lady bug. I didn't get any pictures of that, darn it! She had a fun time at the party but totally missed getting lots of candy. Thankfully Sydney and Tyson shared a little!
Sydney put together a creative smore costume. She looked great, but man she could hardly move in this costume...so she ended up ditching the graham cracker part of it by the time the evening was half over.
Tyson and his best buddy Carter were cheerleaders. And DANG cute ones too! Their costume came complete with a cheer and everything! I took these two trick or treating and they lasted for 3 1/2 hours and came home with over 8lbs of candy! Holy cow! I have never laughed so hard though, they were absolutely a blast to hang out with. Carter's Mom made homemade chicken noodle soup, scones, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to fill us up right before we headed out. YUM! It was soooo stinking good! Thanks a bunch Natalie! When the boys got home they sorted and organized their ridiculous amounts of candy. They were soo dang funny! It was a great night, with only one little problem...now I've just got to figure out a way to keep my hands out of the pounds and pounds of chocolate floating around the house! Wish me luck!

Have you ever seen 2 cuter cheerleaders?


Look out BYU and UTE cheerleaders!


Sorry I had this on the wrong setting! Still cuties though!


Tyson smiling with his giant load! Get this candy out of my house!

You really can't get the idea of how much candy this really was because it is spread so far apart. It was 8.8 lbs of candy! Any takers?

I video recorded the girl's last swim meet from the camera, and I have been trying for days to figure out how to get it onto my computer. I can view it but can't save it to download onto my blog. Help anyone?